This invention relates to an underwater sonic pulse generator, and particularly to apparatus utilizing a monopropellant to generate a pressurized gas volume and expel the gas in rapidly recurring short bursts through vents in the gas column to generate sonic pulses.
Seismic exploration for potential subsea oil drilling sites currently requires explosive energy sources which will acoustically penetrate the ground beneath the oceans. Returning echo patterns are recorded and contour maps are created with this data. Presently, these explosive energy releases are made by dynamite, fuel-air mixture, or compressed air. Each of these methods has certain disadvantages such as producing inefficient frequency distribution of the energy, requiring heavy and expensive support equipment, or delivering a low amount of energy per pound of fuel.